Workplace Safety Alert
Watch-house capacity data published below has been obtained from the official QPS public website (QPS Watch-house data).
QPU has serious concerns for member safety in Watch-houses which operate above 100% capacity.
Current data shows that on average 70% of all prisoners held in QPS custody are Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) prisoners, not police prisoners.
This directly contradicts long standing recommendations. As far back as 1996, a Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) report recommended that QCS prisoners should not be held in police watch-houses for longer than three days. This position was reaffirmed in 2025 through the QPS 100 Day Review, authored by the current Acting Police Commissioner.
Despite this, watch-house data continues to highlight unsafe working environments in which QPS officers are required to operate daily managing QCS prisoners.
The QPU calls on the QPS Executive Leadership Team to immediately address this issue and stop practices that knowingly expose officers to unsafe workplaces.
Queensland watch-houses are in critical WPHS failure
Since 4 March, 26 different watch-houses have recorded a critical WPHS failure (over 100% capacity), on 105 separate days — 1,185 individual readings in critical failure in total.
Latest data: Wednesday 17 June 2026, 06:00Explore the data
Switch between views — the same data, shown the way that suits you. Every cell, bar and point is coloured to highlight capacity. QPS publish two snapshots per day — 06:00 (AM) and 18:00 (PM).
cap 4
cap 16
cap 42
cap 42
cap 21
cap 8
cap 6
cap 15
cap 2
cap 20
cap 21
cap 69
cap 27
Each watch-house's most recent published occupancy, ranked highest first. The dashed line marks 100% capacity; anything past it is over capacity.
How many watch-houses sat in WPHS alert (85–100%) or critical failure (over 100%) on each day. Taller stacks mean more watch-houses over the safe line that day.
Most recent published count for every watch-house, ranked by occupancy. Empty rows mean QPS has not published a recent figure.
| Watch-house | Prisoners | Capacity | % capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryborough Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 6 | 4 | 150.0% |
| Mount Isa Watch-house Critical WPHS failure | 22 | 21 | 104.8% |
| Ipswich District Watch-house Within capacity | 26 | 32 | 81.3% |
| Richlands Watch-house Within capacity | 16 | 20 | 80.0% |
| Toowoomba Watch-house Within capacity | 18 | 23 | 78.3% |
| Brisbane Watch-house Within capacity | 72 | 93 | 77.4% |
| Logan District Watch-house Within capacity | 12 | 16 | 75.0% |
| Maroochydore Watch-house Within capacity | 20 | 27 | 74.1% |
| Rockhampton Watch-house Within capacity | 16 | 22 | 72.7% |
| Hervey Bay Watch-house Within capacity | 7 | 10 | 70.0% |
| Townsville Watch-house Within capacity | 25 | 42 | 59.5% |
| Southport Watch-house Within capacity | 39 | 69 | 56.5% |
| Gladstone Watch-house Within capacity | 8 | 15 | 53.3% |
| Pine Rivers Watch-house Within capacity | 11 | 21 | 52.4% |
| Cairns Watch-house Within capacity | 21 | 42 | 50.0% |
| Dalby Watch-house Within capacity | 3 | 6 | 50.0% |
| Gympie Watch-house Within capacity | 5 | 10 | 50.0% |
| Caboolture Watch-house Within capacity | 15 | 31 | 48.4% |
| Mareeba Watch-house Within capacity | 5 | 12 | 41.7% |
| Caloundra Watch-house Within capacity | 8 | 20 | 40.0% |
| Cleveland Watch-house Within capacity | 3 | 8 | 37.5% |
| Warwick Watch-house Within capacity | 5 | 14 | 35.7% |
| Bowen Station Within capacity | 1 | 4 | 25.0% |
| Bundaberg Watch-house Within capacity | 5 | 21 | 23.8% |
| Mackay Watch-house Within capacity | 5 | 22 | 22.7% |
| Innisfail Watch-house Within capacity | 2 | 9 | 22.2% |
| Whitsunday Watch-house Within capacity | 2 | 9 | 22.2% |
| Doomadgee Watch-house Within capacity | 3 | 15 | 20.0% |
| Murgon Watch-house Within capacity | 1 | 9 | 11.1% |
| Kowanyama Station Within capacity | 1 | 10 | 10.0% |
| Aurukun Station Within capacity | 1 | 12 | 8.3% |
| Atherton Station Within capacity | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Ayr Station Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Bamaga Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Charleville Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Charters Towers Station Within capacity | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Cooktown Station Within capacity | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Coolangatta Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
| Cunnamulla Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| Dunwich Station Within capacity | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Emerald Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Gatton Station Within capacity | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Goondiwindi Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Ingham Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Kingaroy Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
| Lockhart River Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Longreach Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Moranbah Station Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Mornington Island Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 12 | 0.0% |
| Mossman Station Within capacity | 0 | 12 | 0.0% |
| Normanton Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 9 | 0.0% |
| Palm Island Station Within capacity | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Pormpuraaw Station Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Redcliffe Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 9 | 0.0% |
| Roma Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Saint George Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Sandgate Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 6 | 0.0% |
| Thursday Island Station Within capacity | 0 | 10 | 0.0% |
| Weipa Station Within capacity | 0 | 12 | 0.0% |
| Woorabinda Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
| Wynnum Watch-house Within capacity | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Yarrabah Station Within capacity | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
Watch-house occupancy over time
Defaults to watch-houses that have ever breached the 85% alert threshold. Switch to all combined, or pick an individual watch-house.
Download a watch-house report
Pick a watch-house to generate a one-page PDF summary — capacity, occupancy over time, peak, and breach history.